13 most impressive architectural twins around the world
No, you’re not seeing double. These buildings have amazing dopplegangers, sometimes thousands of miles from the original structures that inspired their designs.
The fact that well-known works of art have been quoted from, influenced other works, and sometimes simply outright copied will not come as a surprise to anyone. The power of many works of art is built on allusions to famous predecessors. What may be more surprising is that this dynamic also exists in the world of architecture. Here we have collected 13 towers, castles, houses, and other buildings that have inspired architectural twins which range from brazen copies to loving homages.
1. The Eiffel Tower in Paris and the Tokyo Tower
The Eiffel Tower is, of course, one of the most famous buildings in Paris and it has become an iconic symbol of France. Gustave Eiffel’s design won a competition that included 107 other submissions and construction of the legendary tower began on 8 January 1887.
Just as the Eiffel Tower has become an instantly recognizable landmark of Paris, the Tokyo Tower is one for the world metropolis where it is located. The Japanese architect Tachū Naitō, who is also considered the father of earthquake-resistant designs, built the communications tower using the Eiffel Tower as his model. Today, the red and white steel tower not only shines its light at night, it also broadcasts programming for more than 20 radio stations.
2. The Masters’ Houses in Dessau, Germany and the Villa Strauss in Augsburg, Germany
For design and architecture students, the Bauhaus was ground zero for the modernist revolution in design with the famous university in Dessau at its centre. The so-called Masters’ Houses (Meisterhäuser in German) were built just a few steps away from the school in 1926. Director Walter Gropius had a single freestanding house and three semi-detached ones built for himself and his most important teachers (or ‘masters’). The semi-detached ones are two-and-a-half storey cubic buildings that were made from uniform component parts, saving in construction costs. To prevent the buildings from appearing too monotonous, Gropius rotated each building 90 degrees from its neighbour. The Bauhaus workshops were responsible for the interior design.
In conservative southern Germany at the beginning of the 20th century, most architectural patrons preferred traditional architecture and rejected the Neues Bauen (or ‘New Building’) and Neue Sachlichkeit (or ‘New Objectivity’) styles that were then emerging. The extraordinary architect Fritz Landauer, however, had the courage to bring a breath of fresh air to Augsburg and built one of the few examples of the new modernist style in that part of the country. Eugen Strauss, a lawyer from Augsburg, wanted a new house, but given the economic crisis of the period, he was reluctant to opt for an opulent mansion. He instead chose an understated house with a designed built around two flat cubes. A tower, turned slightly outwards, stands at the western end of the building. Landauer, who was Jewish, emigrated to London in 1937 as the Nazi party was consolidating its power in Germany.
3. The Alcázar de Colón in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and the Versace Mansion in Miami
The Alcázar de Colón palace is a product of colonialism’s early period. Christopher Columbus’s son built it between 1510 and 1514 in what is now the old town of Santo Domingo, in the typical Spanish colonial style of the time. The central section consists of two superimposed, or stacked, arcades, with columns supporting a flat roof.
At first glance, the parallels between Versace’s mansion and the palace in Santo Domingo may not be apparent, but a look in the garden will reveal the connections. Before the legendary fashion designer Gianni Versace moved into his villa in Miami, Alden Freeman, who designed the home, lived there. After the death of his wealthy father in 1910, the younger Freeman was free to pursue his passion for travelling. He admired Columbus and decided to build a house in the style of the Alcázar de Colón. The Spanish colonial style can be seen throughout the entire property, and the façade on the garden side has the same arrangement of arcades as seen in the Alcázar.
4. The House of World Cultures in Berlin and the Teepott Warnemünde in Rostock, Germany
In divided Germany, West and East Germany used architecture to visibly position themselves and proclaim their political supremacy compared to their rival. The House of World Cultures was designed by American architect Hugh Stubbins for Interbau, an international building exhibition held in West Berlin in 1957. Its dramatic curving form became a symbol of freedom in the West.
The Teepott in Warnemünde, a seaside resort area in Rostock, Germany, has a signature roof designed by engineer Ulrich Müther and it is considered one of the best-known examples of a hyperbolic paraboloid shell design. This particular shell building was an architectural alternative to the prefabricated slab construction common in East Germany at the time and a futuristic statement announcing the progressive style of buildings in the Communist half of the country, even though it was strikingly similar to its western counterpart.
5. The White House in Washington, D.C. and the Söhnlein-Pabst Villa in Wiesbaden, Germany
While the White House inspired a copy of itself, it is also a doppelganger of an earlier building, as architect James Hoban modelled it on Leinster House in Dublin, a building that now houses the Irish legislature. The first White House was completed in 1800 and then much of it was destroyed in the British-American War of 1812. Hoban was commissioned a second time, with the task of rebuilding the executive mansion.
From 1903 to 1906, the architectural firm Pfleghard und Haefeli built a villa for sparkling wine magnate Friedrich Wilhelm Söhnlein and his American wife Emma Pabst. Söhnlein asked the architects of his home to provide his wife with a reminder of her homeland and so they incorporated references to the White House in Washington, D.C.
6. The Palazzo Pitti in Florence and the Residenz Palace in Munich
Construction of this Renaissance palace for merchant Luca Pitti began in 1458, according to Giorgio Vasari, following a design by Brunelleschi. Other historians, however, credit Brunelleschi’s pupil, Luca Fancelli with the first phase of the building. In either case, work stopped in the 1460s, when Pitti’s financial situation worsened. It was not until 1549 that the construction resumed after Eleonora of Toledo, wife of Cosimo I de’ Medici, purchased the building. The rough stone blocks on the façade are typical of the buildings of Florentine nobility and create a certain fortress-like character.
The earliest portions of a royal palace on the location of the Residenz date back to the 14th century, and over the centuries new wings, courtyards, and additions were added by various monarchs. The Königsbau, or King’s Building, dates to the reign of King Ludwig I, who reigned from 1825 to 1848. There’s little mystery around why the building so strikingly resembles the Medici palace. Ludwig I expressly ordered his court architect, Leo von Klenze, to model it on the earlier palace in Florence. Klenze also used the Palazzo Rucellai, located in Florence as well, as another model.
7. The Palace of Versailles and the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna
This magnificent Baroque building is a high point of European architecture and influenced many other royal palaces throughout the continent. Louis XIII first designed Versailles as a hunting lodge, but it was his son, Louis XIV, who would transform it into the palace that visitors see today, with a series of ambitious building programs that began in 1661 and lasted until the king’s death in 1715. In 1682, it became the seat of French government. The gardens, almost as famous as the palace itself, were designed by André Le Nôtre.
According to tradition, when Emperor Matthias, Archduke of Austria, came across a small spring while hunting, he exclaimed: “What a beautiful spring!” And that is the origin of the name of the baroque Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna. Like Versailles, it began as a hunting lodge but was transformed during the reign of Maria Theresa in the 18th century. The palace long served as a summer residence for the rulers of the Hapsburg empire.
8. The Olha Kobyljanska City Theatre, Czernowitz, Ukraine and Fürth City Theatre, Germany
The architectural firm Fellner & Helmer began construction of the Olha Kobyljanska City Theatre in Czernowitz (in present-day Ukraine) in 1904. The project was later paused due to a lack of funds and at that time the architects used the plans without further ado for the municipal theatre in Fürth, in Bavaria. When money became available again back in Czernowitz, construction resumed there.
9. The Taj Mahal, Agra, India and Bibi Ka Maqbara, Aurangabad, India
How far will one go to commemorate a great love? When the wife of the great Mughal leader Shah Jahan died, he had the impressive Taj Mahal mausoleum built for her on the outskirts of Agra. The entire building is made of local bricks and faced in gleaming white marble inlaid with precious stones.
The Bibi Ka Maqbara in Aurangabad is the last great mausoleum of the Mughal period in India and is also known as the little Taj Mahal—a little smaller, a little plainer, but almost equally elegant architectural twin.
10. The Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco and the 25 de Abril Bridge, Lisbon
Along with the Statue of Liberty, the Golden Gate Bridge is probably one of the most famous landmarks in the United States. It was built between 1933 and 1937 and spans the Golden Gate, which connects San Francisco Bay with the Pacific Ocean to its west. A number of colours were considered, but architect Irving Morrow chose the one known as ‘International Orange’.
The third longest suspension bridge in the world, the 25 de Abril Bridge, is located above the Tagus River and connects Lisbon’s Alcântara district with the city of Almada. Even though the Portuguese bridge, completed in 1966, looks amazingly similar to its California predecessor (not least in terms of colour)—the different pylons make it possible to distinguish the two.
11. The Gherkin in London and the Torre Glòries in Barcelona
The Gherkin in London—formally known as 30 St Mary Axe—was completed in 2003. Ken Shuttleworth and Norman Foster led the design and placed particular emphasis on sustainability and energy efficiency. Gaps in the building’s floors create six different shafts that act as chimneys, providing natural air circulation.
The Torre Glòries office complex was completed in 2005 and is the tallest in Barcelona. It stands out on the city’s skyline with its dazzling glass façade. The high-rise has an area of almost 420,000 square feet.
12. The Porcelain Pagoda of Nanjing and the Kew Gardens Pagoda in London
The original Porcelain Pagoda in Nanjing, China, was built in the 15th century and had an astonishing nine storeys, reaching a height of 260 feet. The entire tower was made of porcelain bricks. It was destroyed during the Taiping Rebellion in the 19th century. Construction of a replica of the historic pagoda began in 2010 and was completed in 2015.
The pagoda in Nanjing was the inspiration for many similar buildings around the world, including one in London’s Kew Gardens. In 1762, the copy was built from brick following plans by William Chambers.
13. London’s Tower Bridge and Its Twin in Suzhou
Last on this list is Tower Bridge in London and its twin in Suzhou, China. This duplicate is not a literal copy. Instead the towers of the original have been doubled, making it look like a scene from a bizarre dream—or perhaps Tower Bridge as reimagined by AI—but on the plus side (arguably), it offers space for a multi-lane motorway.
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